This invention relates in general to animal husbandry. More specifically, the present invention relates to a device for holding the eyes of an animal closed when anesthesia is administered during surgery, or any time it is desired to hold one or both eyes of an animal closed.
When a veterinarian performs surgery on an animal, the animal is usually anesthetized with an agent that causes its eyes to remain open. The anesthesia thus prevents the normal blinking mechanism from keeping the surface of the eye moist. Exposure of a non-blinking eye to air causes it to quickly dry out. When the cornea of the eye dries, it may cause corneal ulcers, a painful eye condition which must be medically treated to prevent infection and pain for the animal.
Currently, the standard practice in animal surgery is to rub a thick ophthalmic ointment, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,559, into the eye in an attempt to maintain the eye's moisture when the eye is continuously open. However, even with ointment in the animal's eye, the corneal surface still dries out and corneal ulcers can result.
In human surgery, when a patient's eyes stay open from anesthesia, numerous devices are available to prevent the patient's eyes from drying out and causing corneal ulcers. The most common of these is a piece of medical adhesive tape attached at one end directly to the eyelid of the patient and at its other end to the cheek below the eye which keeps the eyelid shut and prevents drying of the cornea. In animals with fur-covered skin, however, tape will not stick to the fur and, therefore, cannot be used to hold the eyelid closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,539 describes a surgical device for protecting an eye that uses two adhesive strips interconnected by a releasable stud-and-tab fastener, one strip placed on the upper eyelid of a person and the other on the cheek below the eye to keep the eyelid closed. This device also requires direct adhesion of the strips to the skin, which, as noted above, is not practical for a fur covered animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,423 discloses a surgical eye cover for protecting human eyes during ophthalmic surgery. The cover comprises a first plastic film applied securely to the patient's face over the eyes, the first film having a window cut into it to permit access to the patient's eye, and a pair of overlapping cover flaps forming a second plastic film that covers the open window of the first film. However, this device requires adhesion to the skin to function, and is, as the previous devices are, not practical for use on fur-covered animals.